Abacus
by AsaHane
Summary: To repay the person who helped him in a time of need, Sora sings for his band. The only problem is, no one knows that the real singer is Sora. Riku, a popular 'anything' model, discovers his secret, but he too has secrets no one should know. RikuxSora
1. Rock Star

**Author's Notes: **Helooo everybody!

First of all, I have absolutely NO idea how the music industry works. I've never been in a band, I don't have friends in bands, and I'm clueless to it all. About the only experience I've had is high school fanfiction with bands and Gravitation. So, if I make a mistake, please just ignore it. If it's a huge BLARING mistake, I'd be glad to fix it and save myself further embarrassment. It's an AU story, so anything can happen!

Now, I know this story sounds a bit cliche, but I'm trying to add some of my own twists into it. I hope it works out and becomes something at least a little original...

Also, this story is **shounen-ai** and may become **yaoi **later on. It depends on how brave I am. Haha. Anyway… yes, if you have a problem with gay boys, please don't read this story. And if you DO have a problem with it, I frankly don't want to hear about it, kthnx.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the story! Reviews are much appreciated :hug:

* * *

**Chapter I**

_Rock Star_

* * *

Guitar strum. 

"_Do you have the time… to listen to me whine… about nothing and everything all-at-once? I am one of those… melodramatic fools…neurotic to the bone no-doubt-about-it._"

Lyrics they'd designed. Lyrics they'd patented. Melody they'd made up. Everything was theirs. All their own.

"_Sometimes I give myself thee creeps. Sometimes my mind plays tricks oon me. It all keeps adding up. I think I'm cracking up! Am I just paranoid? Or I'm just stoned!_"

Except the voice. The voice didn't belong to them. It wasn't the lead singer's voice that was screaming into the microphone. Sure, the music behind him was authentic, real, full. But the voice wasn't real.

"_I went to a shrink… to an-alyze-my-dreams. She says it's lack-of-sex-that's bringing mee down. I went to a whore; he said my life's a boore… so quit my whining cause it's bringing-heer down!_"

Sora closed his eyes and tried to ignore the words. To him, they were disgusting and juvenile, and they had no business being around him. However, the problem was that it was _his_ voice that was singing the song. _His_ voice that the lead singer was mouthing into the microphone with practiced ease. He closed his ears as the chorus was repeated and tried to pretend that the world around him didn't exist.

"_Gras-ping-to-controol… so I better hoold oon…_"

He imagined that he was back in his room studying for the next school exam. Back where he was comfortable with all of his things—CD's, DVD player, PlayStation 2, his homework… anywhere but here.

"_Sometimes I give myself thee creeps. Sometimes my mind plays tricks oon me. It all keeps adding up. I think I'm cracking up! Am I just paranoid? Or I'm just stoned!_"

And the final thrum. Sora heaved a sigh of relief and slumped as low as he could in his seat as the producer stood up and clapped heartily.

"Haha! Great job boys! Keep up this kind of music, and we'll be off on our third tour in no time at all!" He gave the four members a big, sparkly smile, and then he turned to the group's manager. "Alright, The next album—when is it due?"

"Next week," the man sighed. His eyes were tired, and he didn't seem to have had time to brush his hair out this morning—because it was sticking up in every direction. But anyone who knew that manager outside of work knew that his hair was _always_ like that. Today however, it was spikier than usual. The producer didn't seem to care. Hell, all the producer was worried about was the money.

"Good! Thanks for the free preview fella's!" He gave them another grin. "I'll sign the papers and then I have to be off—I have an interview with Daily Three in an hour." The bulky man tipped his hat and toddled out of the concert hall, whistling a merry tune. The boys on stage gave each-other congratulatory high-fives and laughed. Sora pretended to disappear.

"Man, I hope this time we go to Europe." Demyx said. He was a blonde with a mohawk, holding his Sitar against his side like a lover. The boy at the drummer's seat, Seifer, another blonde with a scar diagonal across the bridge of his nose, just shrugged.

The second guitarist, Zell, grinned. "I don't care where we go—as long as there's girls."

The lead singer turned around, brushing his silver hair out of his eyes and giving a smirk. His eyes were a deep blue, and Sora had to admit, he was a lot prettier than _him_. He placed a hand on his hip and turned his head back towards the seats behind him.

"Well, I guess little Sora wouldn't want to come," he jested. "Girls don't interest him."

Sora closed his eyes and willed the floor to swallow him up.

"Shut up Kuja." The manager sighed. "His preference is no concern of yours."

Kuja smirked but left it at that and turned back to his buddies.

Cloud closed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair, flopping into the chair beside Sora. "I don't know why you put up with him Sora."

"I owe him," he muttered. "And this is what he wanted. I'm stuck, weather I like it or not."

"You know, he has a decent voice too. You really shouldn't do this for him." The blonde leaned back and watched the brunette. Sora just gave him a feeble smile.

"Like I said, I owe him. And it's not that bad really… I get some money, and he gets the groupies." Sora shrugged. "I think it's a win-win situation…"

Cloud sighed and gave up on that subject for the moment. "Anyway, how's school?"

"Boring, as always." Sora shrugged his shoulders again, staring at the stage of the concert hall with a tired gaze. "Hey, is it okay if I go home?"

Cloud gently shook his head. "Kuja's going to take his buddies, he's already told me. I'll take you home."

Sora looked at him and grinned, but it was a little too wide. Cloud smirked and rolled his eyes. "And where else do you want me to take you?"

"You don't have to if you really don't want to… but… I haven't been to B&N in a long time… pleeeaaase?" Sora gave him his large, blue puppy-dog eyes. Cloud laughed lightly and patted Sora's head.

"Alright, alright, I'll take you. You deserve it anyway."

"Yay!" Sora cried, throwing his hands into the air with a happy smile. "Thanks so much Cloud!"

Cloud just shook his head and stood up, clapping his hands. "Alright boys, time to pack up!"

Kuja and his band slowly packed their instruments away and loaded Kuja's car—a Hummer—all the while talking and joking with each other. Sora stayed near Cloud since there was nothing else for him to do. Besides, Cloud wasn't a bad person to hang around. He was the only one who'd befriended Sora in a long, long time, and Sora was very thankful to him for that. It made him happy to know he had someone to rely on.

Well, it was more than Kuja had. But Sora wasn't so sure of that, so he didn't put much more thought into it.

It took a half-an-hour to get everything ready to leave (because Kuja and his pals were too busy loitering and stopping in the middle of moving their instruments), but Cloud stayed until they could no longer see the white Hummer gliding away down the road. Once it disappeared into the busy city, Cloud turned to Sora and smiled. They went to his car, an older version of a Porsche, and climbed in.

Cloud reached up and turned on the radio, filling the car with sound as he pulled out of the studio parking lot and started off to the famous B&N. "So, what are you getting this time?"

Sora blinked and looked up at Cloud, then he smiled. "Well, some new manga, and maybe a strategy guide… Oh, and one of those huge cookies."

Cloud just shook his head gently. "It's a wonder your teeth haven't rotted."

Sora just grinned. The ride was silent except for the music. Sora leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes.

"_They're not gonna get us… not gonna get us… not gonna get uuuss! Get uss_!"

"I like this group," Sora muttered as Cloud pulled to a stop at a light. The blonde blinked and looked at Sora inquisitively. "They're original. Their songs have a dance beat to them."

Cloud shrugged. "They're Russian. Different culture."

"I still think it's original."

They were silent until Cloud pulled into the B&N parking lot, turning the car off and taking out a portable DVD player. Sora gave him an apologetic look as he moved to get out of the car, but Cloud waved him off, sticking in The Hulk.

Sora took a deep breath as he entered Barnes and Noble, smiling to himself as he made a beeline to the manga section. The coffee smell always comforted him whenever he walked in, and the quiet music playing overhead made him calm. He'd always loved bookstores, they were his haven, a place where he could just curl up with a good book and read, smelling the warmth of coffee and the gentleness of the music overhead.

He scanned down the shelf from A to Z, looking at each title while searching for the ones familiar to him. He caught sight of an off-white spine and read the words, his eyes widening.

"Earthien?" He whispered to himself, picking up the thick volume and looking at the front cover. "Wow…" He flipped the book open and paged through it, smiling at the old artwork and the poor backgrounds. Early work was always such a fun thing to look at—especially when the artist was someone like Yun Koga.

He sat himself down on the floor, near a table to stay out of people's way, and started reading. He was so lost in the frames and the art that he didn't notice the person peering over his shoulder at the book until they tapped him on the shoulder. Sora started and looked up, blinking as he came face to face with a young man wearing a baseball-cap backwards with pair of dark sunglasses. A few strands of silver hair caressed his eyebrows as he smiled down at the brunette.

"Uh…" Sora started, quickly scrambling to his feet. "I-I'm sorry, was I in your way?"

The young man shook his head and nodded at the manga Sora was clutching to his chest. "You like shounen-ai?"

Sora blushed and looked at the floor. "Yeah…" He waited for the usual response of 'ew man, you must be gay' or 'ugh, fucking fag', but it never came. Instead, he got something quite different.

"I like Loveless better. Yun Koga wasn't really very good at romance in the beginning. Earthien's okay." He shrugged, his lips pulling up into a small smirk. "But Soubi and Ritsuka have more chemistry."

Sora looked at the boy in astonishment, then a slow smile crept onto his face. He felt slightly familiar, but Sora pushed it off as deja vu. "I-I know what you mean. I haven't read Earthien yet, but I love Loveless. Have you read Ouran?"

"Uh-huh. Love Hikaru and Kaoru." The mysterious boy turned and leaned back against the table behind him. "Tamaki's so annoying."

Sora laughed, hugging Earthien to his chest tightly. "I think Tamaki's adorable—" Then he froze, a flush breaking out on his cheeks. The boy laughed lightly.

"He does have a certain charm, but he's still annoying."

Sora looked at the boy and smiled gently, thrusting his hand out. "Sora."

The boy smirked back and grasped Sora's smaller hand, shaking firmly. "Riku."

Sora took his hand back and smiled. "What else do you suggest?"

Riku shrugged, pushing off the table and moving towards the wall of manga. He scanned the shelves, pulling out a book here and there, and once he was finished he piled them all into Sora's arms. "All of those are really good if you like Yun Koga's style."

Sora looked down at the seven books, then grinned up at Riku, adjusting the pile so it sat comfortably in his arms. "Thanks… I'm so picky when it comes to manga. It's hard to find a series I like."

Riku smirked. "Me too. Anyway, I have to go." He leaned foreword suddenly. Sora's eyes widened and he leaned back a bit, but Riku bypassed his mouth and breathed against his ear, making the brunette shiver slightly. "Nice meeting you… Sora."

And just like that, Riku was gone as suddenly as he'd appeared. Sora was dazed for a moment, and then shook himself out of it. He took a moment to wonder why Riku was wearing a pair of dark glasses in a store and at night, but he shook it off. People did what they did.

"Better get to the strategy guides…" He muttered and hurried off.

* * *

" _I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, I know a so—_" 

SLAM.

" _Ev—ybo—die—er—s_"

"Ugh…" Sora grunted, rising from the bed sheets like a zombie. He looked over at his clock and cursed mornings, especially mornings that included school in their schedule. He reached up and turned off his skipping alarm clock, then he sat in the middle of his bed and vegetated for a moment.

_Alright, tomorrow I have a test in math, and then next week I have to study for the review in chemistry…_ Sora yawned. Screw remembering tests. He rolled to the side of his bed and pulled himself lethargically to his feet, pivoting on his heel and stumbling into his closet for a moment. He came out with a long-sleeved white shirt, a red tank top, and a pair of khaki shorts that reached his knees.

Slowly, his eyes half-closed, he shed his pajamas and pulled on the clothes for the day. The front of his red shirt had a small logo on the left hand side with a miniature Sasuke chidori-ing the life out of whatever poor soul who happened to be standing in front of him.

Slowly he trudged into the bathroom and began to tame his hair—at least slightly. Once it wasn't a living rat's nest he brushed his teeth, put on deodorant, washed his face, and then made his way into the kitchen. He glanced at the note his mother had left—she'd gone out again that morning, food was in the stove, apples in the fridge. He bent down and opened the stove, pulling out the bag of Cheezit's sitting on the rack. He didn't know why his mother did that… it was just something that made her well… herself.

He grabbed an apple from the fridge, picked up his school stuff, and finally left for the bus stop, munching his apple slowly. Ah, the morning routine, how he just _adored_ it.

Bus came, Sora climbed on, found himself an empty seat, tried not to fall asleep, and then got off at school. He trudged into the grounds, not any more awake than he'd been when the "song that gets on everybody's nerves" first blared into his ears. He found a nice vacant wall to lean against and concentrated on waking up.

School wasn't Sora's favorite place to be. He didn't have many friends, and the ones he did have weren't really true friends. They were just school friends, the people he hung around because it was a little lonely sitting off by himself. He tried to keep himself awake by counting the passing kids, but it didn't really help much. It only made him sleepier.

Suddenly a face appeared in his vision.

"Ahh!" He cried, leaping back and tripping over his own large yellow shoes. He fell to the ground in a heap.

"Oops, didn't mean to scare you." The disembodied head said, blinking down at the fallen brunette. Sora looked up and came eye to eye with two orbs of ocean blue. scruffy blonde hair framed the boys face and he was hanging from the railing of the small staircase leading up to the second level of the school. Sora mumbled something and picked himself up, brushing his butt off.

"Thanks Tidus…" He grunted. The blonde smirked.

"S'not my fault you have no sense of balance." He said as he pulled himself back onto the concrete and brushed his blonde hair out of his face. Usually Tidus was followed by an entourage of people seeking his attention, all of whom he would be laughing and grinning at while he shamelessly flirted and made an ass of himself to those less fortunate than him. And those less fortunate included Sora, who, if there ever could be, was the president of the Tidus is an Asshole club.

So, after brushing himself off, Sora turned his head and started off to find a place that was not inhabited by Tidus.

"Hey!" The blonde teen cried, vaulting off the railing and landing with, of course, perfect ease before jogging up to Sora. "Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

"Anywhere that has no you in it." The brunette huffed, refusing to give Tidus his eyes.

"C'mon, I know you're jealous, but you don't have to be so obvious about it."

Sora just ignored him. Usually if you ignored someone they would back off, but not Tidus. When Tidus found you worthy of his attention, he was a leech.

"So, what have you been up to So-ra?"

Sora cringed. He hated it when Tidus said his name like that. The first time he'd done it, Sora had found it a little cute, but now it just got on his nerves, like an annoying itch that wouldn't go away.

"Nothing you'd care about."

"Oh really?" Tidus looked at him. "How would you know?"

"Because you don't care about much."

"Hey, I do so care about stuff!"

"Oh?"

"I care about myself!" Tidus beamed. Sora just rolled his eyes and took a sharp turn down a hallway. But Tidus was attached to him by the hip.

"Lovely." The brunette commented. Tidus just chuckled and shook his head, brushing his hair back again. Tidus was currently working for a small modeling company, playing Blitzball on the side, but nearly everyone in the school knew that soon the bigger companies would catch him and draw him in like a huge, meaty fish. Even Sora had to admit that Tidus was _really_ good at his job. He'd seen some of the ad's Tidus had posed for floating around the girls groups and he was amazed. Tidus could make himself blend in with anything, especially products like jeans and colognes.

Tidus was a rugged kind of beauty. But unlike most beautiful people, he had a great mind to go with his body. He was an honor roll student, and if he'd run for class president, would have probably been chosen. Anyone would want him, man or woman.

Anyone, except Sora.

"Nice shirt," Tidus said once Sora gave up trying to get away and squeezed himself into a nook in the wall. "Anime again I see."

Sora just glared. Tidus smirked. Sora knew his glare was the equivalent of a week old kitten's hiss, but dammit why did Tidus always have to rub it in? "Why do you always have to pester me?" Sora asked.

Tidus shrugged. "You're so much fun to pester…"

"Don't you have a big group of wanna-be's to go and flirt at?" Sora hissed, wedging himself further. "I'm sure they want you to make an appearance… like… right now."

Tidus gave a bored wave. "I came to tell you about the karaoke thing. Since you don't talk to anyone, I figured you wouldn't know. Kairi's throwing a huge birthday bash at the sing-along place and she's inviting everyone to invite everyone else so consider yourself invited." Tidus smirked.

Sora rolled his eyes. He knew Kairi, she was a pretty sweet girl, but he didn't know her well enough to call her a friend. Besides, he couldn't go to a karaoke bar. If people heard his voice and matched it with Kuja's, the band would go under and Sora would be blamed.

"Why should I go?" Sora grunted, looking away. "I won't know anyone."

"You'll know me," Tidus said with a shrug, as if that solved everything.

"I'm not going," Sora sighed, pushing himself out of his makeshift prison and brushing past Tidus. "I'm just the guy everyone wants to go, but in the end it doesn't matter if I'm there or not."

Sora stalked off to his first period class without looking back, but if he had, he might have seen the far off look in Tidus' eyes.

The rest of the school day went as usual. Every period he was ignored by the teachers and his class mates. At lunch he sat and ate his Cheezeit's under one of the oak trees in the common's area alone, and then he rode the bus home and made his way to his apartment.

When he got home his mother was asleep on the couch, the television playing a drama show while the coffee table in front of her was littered with things like cups and napkins and half-eaten food. Sora just sighed lightly and brought his backpack into his room, then he proceeded to clean up his mother's mess and turn off the TV. Once he was finished he dragged his mother's comforter out of her bedroom and draped it over her before heading back to his room and starting on homework.

Around seven, when Sora was trying to figure out how many grams went into five-thousand megatons, his phone rang. He blinked and picked it up. "Hello?"

"_Sora?" _

The brunette smiled—it was Cloud. "Hey, what's up?"

"_Nothing much, just calling to tell you that the next recording is on Thursday at six. Everything okay?" _

"Yeah," Sora said, twirling his pencil around. "Fine as ever."

"_Great. Well, I have to get going. Lot's of paperwork to do." _

"'Kay. Bye Cloud." Sora sighed, and as soon as he clicked the phone off it rang again. The brunette furrowed his eyebrows and answered. "Hello?"

"_Sora!" _

Blue eyes widened.

"Tidus? How the hell did you get my number!"

"_It's called a phonebook. Kairi told me your mom's name. So, are you coming to karaoke?" _

"I told you no!" Sora growled, "I don't even have the time!"

"_Oh come on!"_ Tidus whined, _"It's going to be so much fun…" _

"Tidus, when I say no, I _mean_ no!"

"_So-o-ora!" _

Tidus could be soooo annoying.

"I'm hanging up now."

"_No—wait!"_ Sora sighed and leaned against his desk, tapping his fingers. _"Look,"_ Tidus sighed, _"If you go, I promise I won't bother you for a whole month." _

Sora stopped moving. A whole month? Without Tidus breathing down his neck? That was mighty tempting. So tempting in fact, that Sora was just on the edge of agreeing. But then he thought of Kuja and his band, and how Kairi forced everyone to join in on her little games, and he sighed. He closed his eyes and leaned against the desk.

"I'm sorry Tidus, but I can't go."

"… _Sora, are you okay?"_ It wasn't often when Tidus sounded concerned. Actually, Sora had never heard him talk in that tone of voice before. The brunette frowned.

"I'm fine… why do you care?" he didn't say it with scorn. It was a simple question—why should you care about me?

"_Uh… well… you know it's… um…"_ Sora stared at the wall. Tidus was stuttering? _"Okay… if you really don't want to go I guess I can't force you."_

"It's okay," Sora frowned again. "Maybe… maybe some other time."

"_Right…"_ Tidus sighed. _"See you at school tomorrow, Sora." _

"Yeah…" Dial tone. Sora hung up and leaned back, raking his fingers through his hair. After a moment of silence, he returned to his homework. "I hate metrics…"

* * *

**  
Disclaimer: **I don't own Basket Case by Greenday, Not Gonna Get Us by tAtU, nor "the song that gets on everybody's nerves". Or Kingdom Hearts. 


	2. Celeberty

::peeks out of her bomb shelter:: Uh… hi::is exploded::

I am SO SORRY for the little hiatus that went on with this fic. I blame it on my idioticness. But here's the next chapter! You don't know how much trouble I had with this thing… I rewrote this chapter like four times because it SUCKED. It still sucks. But it's a better suck than anything else I wrote for it.

I also have some more ideas for this story, so it's going in a totally different direction than before. Also, the rating will go up because of really bad language, and for later situations. If you like fluffy kitten stories well... this isn't it... heheh...

I hope you enjoy this chapter, and so sorry for the wait!

* * *

**Chapter II**

_Celebrity_

* * *

Riku was not having the best of days, he reflected while silently tending to the long wounds on his chest. The salve stung, smelled horrible, and his chest hurtfrom more than just the salve. 

He swallowed a sob and brushed tears from his eyes, only to reach up and brush them away when they were replaced. He told himself he wouldn't ever cry when he got into this… he'd _promised_ himself. And now look at him! He was pathetic!

_Stupid, fucking tear ducts…_ he sniffled and wiped his face again, wincing. He really shouldn't be crying. He _should not_. He should have been stronger than this.

He looked up when the soft jingle of his cell phone broke the silence. Scowling—and brushing his tears again—Riku grabbed it off the bedside table and flipped it open. There were only two people who knew his cell phone number, and one of them wouldn't be calling any time soon.

"_Hey Riku." _

"Leon." Riku covered the speaker and sniffed, rubbing his eyes and forcing his voice to become normal. After so many years of practice, it hardly shook at all when he spoke next. "What's up?"

"_We have a CD cover to shoot. Trance, that new band with the girly guy Kupo or something. They scheduled for Saturday." _

"Right." Riku nodded to himself and pulled a couple of tissues out of the box on his bedside table, using them to rub his eyes instead of his fingers, since it was starting to hurt too much. "What time?"

"_Around three. I can buy you dinner afterward." _

Riku shook his head, then remembered that Leon couldn't see him. "No thanks, I'm fine with what I have here. It's a clothed shoot right?"

"_Yeah. Why? You usually don't care." _

"Just feeling self-conscious." How he wished that was all it was, looking down at the raw cuts on his chest.

"_Whatever. I hate working with you models sometimes. You have a panic attack if you loose a hair." _

Riku snorted and flopped onto the bed, rubbing his face on the pillow. The tears had finally stopped coming. Thank god! He thought they'd never stop. "Well, loosing a hair could cost us our jobs."

"_Whatever. See you on Saturday." _

"Right… bye…" _Click_. Riku flipped his phone closed and sighed, hugging it to his chest. His salvation, his little bit of freedom—the cell phone. How he loved it. When he swore he'd do anything to keep it, he really meant it. Even these cuts couldn't stop him from loving his phone.

With a last long sniffle, Riku pulled his blanket up over his body and turned off the bedside lamp, setting his cell phone on the empty pillow beside him. He would be ready for Saturday, despite the cuts. He would show _him_.

* * *

Riku sipped at his vanilla shake as he flicked through a handful of pictures. Leon had managed to convince Riku to accept his offer to buy him a shake before the shoot later in the afternoon since he wouldn't accept dinner. 

The pictures were of a group of teenagers posing for magazine covers, some of them standing alone, and some just goofing off. They were the band whose cover he was supposed to be posing for today. With a sigh the silver haired boy set them on the table and turned his aqua eyes towards Leon.

"I don't like their music." He said, and pulled Leon's ear-buds out of his ears. "The voice is awesome, but they don't sing about much other than blood drugs money and sex."

Leon shrugged and took his iPod back. "That's what the teens of today are like."

Riku shrugged as well. "Not me."

Leon shook his head, exasperated. "Well, weather you like their music or not, it's the job I got you."

"I know that." Riku scowled at him, then went back to his shake. "Who's this kid?" He pressed his finger against the face of a young brunet boy with blue eyes. He looked scruffy compared to the other boys. In the picture he was standing off to the side while one guitarist had the drummer in a headlock in the foreground. His eyes were wide, looking off the picture, as if someone had called his name the moment the picture was taken and he'd turned to look.

Leon looked down at the photo Riku was pointing at. "Dunno. I guess he hangs out with the band or something since he's in a few."

Riku squinted at the boy in the picture. _He's that kid I saw in Barnes and Noble the other day._ "Will he be at the shoot?"

Leon shrugged again. "He's not in the band, so probably not."

Riku nodded absently and sat back in his chair, picking up the picture and looking at the boy. Even though he was in the background, the picture was a really good view of him. He couldn't quite recall his name however, no matter how hard he delved into his memory.

"We better get going."

Riku looked up from the picture to find Leon looking at his wristwatch. He nodded and set the picture back with the others, then stood and grabbed his shake as Leon cleaned up after his meal.

They drove to the modeling studio in Leon's corvette. It was a silent ride—as it usually was with Leon in the car—and they entered the building just as a pack of laughing teenagers walked into the main hall out of a bathroom. Riku stared at them all before he caught sight of what looked like their manager—a blond man with a stony expression that could match even Leon's.

"I think that's them." Leon said rather unnecessarily. Riku just grunted.

"I'll be in the room while you talk to them." The silver haired boy walked quickly away from the band before Leon could say anything to stop him. He didn't like bands much—they were just too… strange. He couldn't ever place it in terms that he was proud of.

He turned a corner and found himself in a narrow hallway full of wooden doors. He'd never come to this particular studio, to work before, so he took a stroll down the hall to be nosy, peering into the glass on each door. Most of the rooms were just storage, he realized, and a few small offices. He turned the corner at the end of the hall and saw a small group of people standing there. One looked like an overweight business tycoon, a sly smile carving his pudgy face as he spoke to a taller, dark haired man with glasses. Two other men were talking amongst themselves nearby.

All of them were standing in front of a large window. To the left was a door that led into the room, and it seemed like all of the men were talking about what was inside. Curious, Riku stepped forward and nudged passed the people with gentle 'excuse me's' so that he could see.

There was a boy in there. He looked to be no older than Riku, with sandy blond hair and a lady-killer type of smile. His eyes were the color of a deep tropical ocean Riku had seen somewhere in Hawaii, and he was modeling.

Leaning back, Riku watched him with interest. It was obviously some sort of fashion ad he was working for, considering the clean white backdrop and the way the boy was posing to make the cloths look good on him. He had a gorgeous smile and a perfect body, but Riku caught the way he stiffened whenever he settled into a pose.

_If he doesn't loosen up he'll never get better than good._ Riku thought to himself, rubbing his bottom lip with his thumb in thought.

"Yes yes, Tidus Sterylun is his name."

Blinking, Riku tuned in to the conversation between the pudgy man and the tall guy. The other two men had walked away, leaving Riku alone with them.

"He's new?" The tall man asked, pushing his glasses up his nose without taking his eyes off the blond.

"Well, he started a few months ago, and since then he has improved wonderfully. So far he's posed mostly for fashion, but he's also done some glamour stuff."

"Is he eligible for adult material?"

The pudgy man blinked, surprised at the boldness of the question, then frowned. "Well, he's only sixteen. It will have to be mild."

"He's a beautiful boy," The dark haired man turned away and looked down at the pudgy man. "He would do wonderfully in adult merchandising."

The pudgy man grimaced. "Well sir, that is up to him. I will allow it, but only if he agrees to it."

Riku turned away and hid his scowl. If only his manager before Leon had been like this man. If only he hadn't been so stupid.

"Whew, I'm beat!"

Turning again, Riku watched as the blond boy strolled out of the room, now in casual clothes. He was sweating a bit—probably from the lights shining on him—but he looked content. Sure of himself.

"Ah, Tidus!" The pudgy man smiled and put an arm around Tidus shoulders. The blond smiled and turned to the dark haired man.

"Who's this Mr. Crory?"

"This is Tieran Trail. He's interested in you for some of fashion modeling." Mr. Crory replied. Tidus smiled and held out his hand, shaking Tieran's firmly.

"I'm totally into that Mr. Trail. Fashion is becoming my specialty," He laughed. The dark haired man didn't smile, and it made the grin wilt on the blonds face.

"I'm also interested in some older, more adult material from you. If you agree, I can easily put you to good use."

Riku had to smile at the blush that blossomed on the blonds face. _He'll make it. He's the type to take his criticism seriously._

"Ah, but I'm only sixteen sir." Tidus frowned at him. "I didn't think I was allowed to do that until I'm older."

"There are milder things we could use you for." Tieran nodded, as if agreeing with himself. "Are you interested?"

Tidus swallowed. "I-I'll think about it sir."

The man nodded again and pulled a card out of his pocket. He handed it to Tidus and the blond took it, peering at the words written on it. "Call me when you've decided."

He nodded to the two of them and strolled down the hallway. Mr. Crory shook his head and patted Tidus's shoulder before turning to follow him. Tidus stayed back, looking at the card with a serious expression on his face. Riku smiled.

"You don't have to say yes if you really don't want to."

The blond boy started and looked around. Once he focused on Riku, his eyes widened and he nearly tripped over himself as he swung around to face him.

"Riku? Riku Airen?" He gasped. Blinking, Riku nodded, and in the span of the few nanoseconds it took for him to do that, Tidus had rushed up to him and gripped his hand. "You are like, my idol!"

"R-really?" Riku gave a small shaky smile. He'd never really met or knew that he had _fans_. Or rather, he didn't get out enough to see if he did or not.

"Yeah, totally!" Tidus looked ecstatic. "I love the stuff you do in the clothing mags—almost anything looks good on you."

"Well… thanks." Riku wasn't quite sure what to say, so he settled for another smile. "I'm told I have a charm…"

"You do, you really do." The sandy blond just couldn't seem to stop smiling. He released Riku's hand and stood back. "What are you here for?"

"Modeling a CD cover. As soon as my manager comes to get me I'll be off to work. You're welcome to watch if you like." Riku shrugged and gave him another smile.

"Man, you have a really sexy smile." Tidus grinned and ran a hand through the back of his hair. "Not implying anything, I swear. It's just I'm sure that grin of yours has won you a lot of shoots."

Riku almost snorted. How could his smiles be sexy when they weren't even real? _I can't remember the last time I smiled for my own sake…_ "Well, I suppose it has gotten me _some_ shoots." He shrugged again.

Tidus nodded. "Well, if you'd really let me, I'd love to come and watch you…"

"It's perfectly fine with me. We have to help each other out when we're not fighting over the big shoots, y'know?"

The blond blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "Heh, yeah."

"Well, I'd better get back to Leon. He doesn't know I'm here or anything, since I sorta wandered off." He threw his thumb over his shoulder. "Just follow me."

"Kay," and Tidus stuck to him like a lost puppy. Riku found it rather amusing, the way his blue eyes were wide and excited.

_All this just because of me… I didn't know I was so popular…_

"Here he is."

Riku looked up when Leon's feet came into view. His manager was giving him the 'I hate you' stare that he was often subjected to whenever he left him alone to talk. He hated talking.

The blond man gave Riku a once over and a small smile, holding out his hand, which Riku quickly took. "Hello Riku, I'm Cloud Strife, Trance's current manager."

After the initial pleased to me you's and idle chat, Riku was led down a hallway to the left of the one in which he'd met Tidus. Tidus had no problem introducing himself and talking to both managers, so Riku left him to his own devices and followed the clerk to the room where he supposed to be working. The band followed another person, since they were also getting pictures for the album, though Cloud stuck with Riku.

"Here we are," The woman said softly. "Mr. Highwind will take care of you."

"Hey Cid." Riku greeted once he saw the scruffy old man behind his tripod and other camera equipment. The blond turned and gave the silver-haired boy a scowl.

"Oh fuck, it's you." He wrinkled his nose. "Wonderful."

Leon had something resembling a grimace on his face. "Hello Mr. Highwind. I don't know how many times I can apologize for what Riku did—"

"Shut it." The man grunted, giving Leon the evil eye. "I hear any more 'sorry's' from yer mouth and I'm gonna stake myself with my own camera stand. Let's just get to work."

Riku smirked and took up his spot in front of the green screen. He'd already dressed for the shoot—since anything he wore was going to be photoshopped out anyway. He heard Tidus whispering to Leon while Cid adjusted his lens.

"What did Riku do…?"

Leon looked a little annoyed, though it could have been exasperated. Riku couldn't tell really.

"He lied to me one day we came to a shoot. He was pale and didn't look good, and in the shoot he threw up all over Cid's camera."

Tidus grimaced. "Oh."

"What'd I say about shuttin' it?" Cid growled, and the two of them fell silent. Riku ran his hand through his hair and sat on the small box that was there for him to work with. The poses he'd gone over with Leon earlier in the café were rather simple compared to most of the things he usually did. He was to sit and look like he was listening to the wind in a sort of 'playing piano' pose.

"Aight, chest up, head towards the corner behind me." Cid grunted out, and Riku followed his directions, putting on a serene expression. He flipped his hands palm up, as if he was holding something in them. There was the click and the flash.

Cloud had him pose differently, so that the band had more than one choice. Riku posed with his hands on the box, bent at the waist, sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall, and various other ways, until Cloud and Cid said that they were satisfied. The shoot was over within an hour, and all that was left was to have the band look over the photo's and decide if they wanted him to pose differently.

Cloud, Leon, and Cid with his camera left Riku alone with Tidus in search of the teenagers. Once they were gone, Tidus turned to Riku and gave him a large smile.

"Man, you're so good… I don't know why you keep taking all of the small fry stuff. You're getting pretty famous, and all you do is little fashion ads and nobody things."

Riku just shrugged. "Well, it's what I like to do." _Rather all that I_ can _do_.

Tidus chuckled and scuffed his foot on the ground. "Thanks for letting me watch anyway. I learned a lot just from that."

"No problem. I suppose you have to go then?"

"Yeah." The blond rubbed his neck. "Hey… mind if I have your autograph?"

Riku stared at him for a second, and then threw back his head and laughed. Tidus blushed hard, smiling a little nervously.

"I've never been asked for that before…" The silver-haired boy said, giggling a little. "Well, I suppose so. You have paper and pen?"

"Oh… wait, I'll go get it! Don't move!" He turned on his heel and dashed off down the hall. Riku stood there and chortled for a moment, then brushed his hair out of his eyes and leaned back against the wall to wait.

_He's a cute kid… kinda my type. Too much of a fan boy though._

As he stood there in the silence of the hallway, a soft sound brought him out of his thoughts. He looked up and down to the end of the hall, where Tidus had disappeared to, but there was no sign of the boy. Frowning, Riku focused on the silence, straining to hear the sound again.

It was coming from the _other_ end of the hallway. There was a single door all the way at the end, and from the look of it, it seemed to be a larger modeling room for large group pictures and such. He pushed off the wall and went to investigate.

Faintly he could hear a voice through the door. His brow furrowed and he grabbed the doorknob, slowly turning it and pushing it open while he looked through the window. It was so dark that he couldn't see anything more than a small shadow person moving around in front of a large cloth set on a ten-foot tall frame. The back of the cloth was to him, and he could see a bit of light.

When he pushed the door open, he quickly slipped inside and closed it behind him, then turned and leaned up against it. If there was some idiot in here trying to steal camera equipment, he'd get a good look at him before he ran away.

_I just hope he doesn't have a gun or something…_

"…_It's the one that I've triiieed to write o-ver-and-o-ver again. I'm a-wake in the iiin-finite coold… but you sing to-me oo-ver-and-o-ver again…_"

Riku froze, and couldn't help but stand there in shock. He'd _never_ heard someone sing like that. The voice lifted goose bumps on his skin and made his heartbeat quicken. No singer, either on CD or in concert, had ever done that to him before.

"_So I laaay myy head baack down… and I lift myy hands and praaay… to be only yours—I praaay, to be only yours—I know now, you're my oooonly hope_."

Quietly, the silver-haired boy crept towards the cloth. There was a single light on, and from behind he could only see the silhouette of someone standing there, swaying slightly. As silently as he could, Riku started to walk around to the front.

"_Sing to me the soong, of the staaars… of your galaxy daaancing and-laugh-ing-and-laugh-ing again… When it feels like my dreeaams are so far… sing to me of the plaaans, that you have-for-me o-ver again_."

And then the voice stopped, and there was a muffled curse. Riku stopped just short of the edge of the cloth.

"I still can't finish it…" Came a soft voice. There was a loud groaning sigh, and the cloth rippled as the person flopped down of the floor. "Why can't I finish it?"

Riku looked around the edge of the cloth and his breath caught. There was the little brunet boy he'd seen in the bands photos. He sat there on the cloth, pouting and wearing a black shirt that said 'will work for anime' in masking tape.

_The boy I saw the other night… the one who bought all that manga._ Riku frowned. He still couldn't remember his name.

Riku looked up when the boy rummaged around in his pocket, pulling out a small key chain. There was a little action-figure thing on the end. It looked like a longhaired blond boy in black with a red coat.

"What do I do Edo?" the boy said to it softly. "I know I've already paid Kuja back, but how can I even stand up to him when I can't finish even one song?"

_Talking to little action figures… that's different. He must not have many friends._

The boy sighed and set the key chain on his knee. "What I wouldn't give to be some anime character where I can just pull up the courage and tell him off. But I can't… not after what he's done for me."

Riku leaned against one the bars holding the cloth up because of habit. Immediately the cloth and the metal stand shook, making a horrible clanking sound in the near silence of the room. The boy sprang up, grabbing his key chain, and spun around.

"Who's there?" He squeaked.

And then the door opened. "Hey, Riku, are you here?"

Riku turned to look at Tidus, then snapped his head back as the brunet took off towards the opposite door—an exit that Riku hadn't even noticed.

"Hey—wait!" He called, but he was too late—the boy had already disappeared.

* * *


End file.
